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Abstract:

A computer system and method for filtering unauthorized electronic mail
messages that are sent by senders to a user. In one embodiment, the
system includes a list of the identifications of the senders who are
authorized to send an electronic mail message to the user. When an
electronic mail message is received, the system determines whether the
identification of sender in the electronic mail message is in the list of
the identifications of the senders who are authorized. When the sender of
the electronic mail message is determined to be authorized, the system
stores the electronic mail message in a designated folder. When the
sender of the electronic mail message is determined to be not authorized,
the system stores the electronic mail message in a folder other than the
designated folder.

Claims:

1.-7. (canceled)

8. Computer apparatus having a default location for storing received
electronic mail messages each of which includes a respective
identification of a sender of the electronic mail message, the computer
apparatus comprising: a storage device retaining a record of the
identifications of the senders who are authorized to send an electronic
mail message to the user; and a processing apparatus operable to: compare
the identification of a sender of each electronic mail message with the
record of the identifications retained in the storage device to determine
whether the sender of the electronic mail message is authorized or
unauthorized; cause the electronic mail message to be stored in the
default location only if the sender of the electronic mail message is
determined to be authorized; and cause the user to receive the electronic
mail message responsive to another user providing an indication that the
electronic mail message should be viewed by the user even though the
electronic mail message was sent by an unauthorized sender.

11. The computer apparatus of claim 8 wherein the processing apparatus is
further operable to: automatically delete any electronic mail message
received from an unauthorized sender unless that electronic mail message
possesses the indication.

12. A method for receiving electronic mail messages in a manner that is
personalized to a recipient, the method comprising: generating a list of
senders authorized to send electronic mail messages; sharing the list of
authorized senders with a plurality of recipients of electronic mail
messages; determining whether the sender of an electronic mail message is
authorized by determining whether the sender is in the generated list of
authorized senders; and determining whether the sender of the electronic
mail message is designated as being unauthorized by determining that the
sender is not in the shared list; wherein electronic mail messages from
senders that are designated as unauthorized are stored in a first
location, and messages from senders that are designated as authorized are
stored in a different location than said first location.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the act of generating the list of
senders authorized to send electronic mail messages further comprises
adding the senders of previously received electronic mail messages to the
list.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the act of generating the list of
senders authorized to send electronic mail messages further comprises
adding the recipients of previously sent messages to the list.

15. A method for receiving electronic mail messages in a manner that is
personalized to a recipient, the method comprising: evaluating a first
electronic message sent from a sender and addressed to a user by
determining whether an identity of the sender is on a first list of
pre-approved sender identities shared between a plurality of users; and
making the first electronic message available to be selectively viewed by
the user from a first directory location when the identity of the sender
is on the first list, the first directory location comprising a primary
directory location from which electronic messages received by the user
and not determined to be junk are to be selected for initial viewing by
the user; and making the first electronic message available to be
selectively viewed by the user from a second directory location separate
from the first directory location when it is determined that the identity
of the sender is not on the first list, the second directory location
comprising a directory location from which electronic messages received
by the user and determined to be junk are to be selected for initial
viewing by the user.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: allowing the user to
receive an electronic mail message responsive to another user providing
an indication that the electronic mail message should be viewed by the
user from the first directory location even though the electronic mail
message was sent by an unauthorized sender.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing a visual
indication to the user that the identity of the sender of the first
electronic message is not on the first list when it is determined that
the identity of the sender is not on the first list, the visual
indication visually identifying the first electronic message from among
other electronic messages in a list of electronic messages in the first
directory location.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the provision of the visual
indication is performed upon further determination that the first
electronic message comprises junk.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the making of the first electronic
message available to be selectively viewed by the user from the first
directory location is performed regardless of whether or not the first
electronic message is determined to be junk.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the making of the first electronic
message available to be selectively viewed by the user from the second
directory location is performed upon further determination that the first
electronic message comprises junk.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing the user with
an option to enable the making of the first electronic message available
from the second directory location to be performed regardless of whether
or not the first electronic message is otherwise determined to be junk.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the making of the first electronic
message available to be selectively viewed by the user from the first
directory location is performed regardless of whether or not the first
electronic message is determined to be junk.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising: enabling the user to add
the identity of the sender to the first list upon the user identifying
the electronic message in the second directory location.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising: enabling the user to
remove the identity of the sender from the first list upon the user
identifying the electronic message in the first directory location.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising: separately determining if
the identity of the sender is on a second list of pre-approved send
identities, the making of the first electronic message available to be
selectively viewed by the user from the first directory location being
performed when it is determined that the identity of the sender is on the
second list; and sharing the second list of pre-approved sender
identities among a plurality of users, the first list of pre-approved
sender identities being personal to the user.

26. The method of claim 15, further comprising: sharing the first list of
pre-approved sender identities among multiple users.

27. The method of claim 15, wherein the first list of pre-approved sender
identities is unmodifiable by the user.

28. The method of claim 15, wherein the first list of pre-approved sender
identities comprises a combination of first sender identities denoted by
the user as business-related, and second sender identities denoted by the
user as social-related.

29. The method of claim 15, further comprising: providing the user with
an option to automatically update the first list of pre-approved sender
identities with a block of pre-existing identities.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the block of identities corresponds
to recipients of electronic messages previously sent by the user.

Description:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 11/080,104, filed Mar. 14, 2005, which is a continuation of U.S.
patent application Ser. No. 09/634,691, filed Aug. 8, 2000, U.S. Pat. No.
6,868,436, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.
08/909,811, filed Aug. 12, 1997, U.S. Pat. No. 6,249,805. These
applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety and
for all purposes.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] This invention relates generally to electronic mail systems and
more particularly to the filtering of electronic mail messages.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Electronic mail is becoming an increasingly popular form of
communications. Electronic mail systems allow one user of a computer
system (i.e., a sender) to send a message electronically to another user
(i.e., a recipient). To create an electronic mail message, the sender
designates the recipient to whom the electronic mail is to be sent and
creates the body (e.g., text) of the electronic mail message. The
electronic mail system then forwards the electronic mail message to the
recipient via a communications mechanism such as a local area network or
the Internet. When the recipient receives the electronic mail messages,
the recipient can view the body of the electronic mail message.

[0004] To ensure format compatibility among various electronic mail
systems, the electronic mail messages are formatted in accordance with a
conventional format such as defined by the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
("SMTP"). According to this format, the electronic mail message contains
an envelope portion and a body portion. The envelope portion identifies
the sender and the recipient, identifies the electronic mail address of
the recipient, and may identify the subject of the electronic mail
message. The body portion contains the message itself, which is typically
in text format. The electronic mail system may need to route an
electronic mail message through various computer systems until it reaches
the computer system of the recipient. Each of the computer systems
through which the electronic mail message is routed use the recipient's
electronic mail address to forward the electronic mail message.

[0005] Electronic mail systems store electronic mail messages that have
been sent or received in a file referred to as the electronic mail file.
The electronic mail files are typically organized into various folders
and subfolders. The folders allow a user of the electronic mail system to
store related electronic mail messages in the same folder in a way that
is very similar to how directories allow a user of a file system to store
related files in the same directory. When the electronic mail system
receives an electronic mail message for a user, the electronic mail
system stores the electronic mail message in a folder that is designated
as the "Inbox" folder within the user's electronic mail file. The
electronic mail system allows the user to view the electronic mail
messages that are currently in the Inbox folder. When the user selects to
display the contents of the Inbox folder, the electronic mail system
displays information from the envelope portion (e.g., sender's name and
subject information) for each of the electronic mail messages currently
in the folder. Based on the envelope information, the user can select to
display the body of an electronic mail message. The electronic mail
system also allows the user to move the electronic mail messages from the
Inbox folder to other folders or to delete the electronic mail messages.
When a user sends an electronic mail message, the electronic mail system
typically saves a copy of the electronic mail message in a folder that is
designated as the "Sent" folder. The user can move and delete the
electronic mail messages stored in any of the folders in the same manner
as done for the Inbox folder.

[0006] The electronic mail address for a user uniquely identifies the
computer system at which the recipient expects to receive the electronic
mail messages. Electronic mail addresses can be very complex strings of
characters that identify countries, companies, divisions within
companies, and individual users. Thus, to provide a more friendly user
interface, typical electronic mail systems maintain an address book that
contains a mapping of the names of the users to their electronic mail
addresses. Thus, when a user wishes to designate a recipient, the user
need only indicate the name of the recipient and the electronic mail
system uses the address book to retrieve the electronic mail address for
that recipient. A user will generally have a personal address book with
the names and electronic mail addresses of those recipients to whom the
user normally sends electronic mail messages. In addition, the electronic
mail systems typically maintain a global address book that is shared by
all users of the electronic mail system. For example, the global address
book may contain the names and electronic mail addresses of all the
employees of a company. An employee may then store the names and
electronic mail addresses of non-employee friends in the employee's own
personal address book. When the electronic mail system sends an
electronic mail message, it searches the global and personal address
books for the electronic mail address of the recipient.

[0007] Prior to the popularity of the Internet, a user of an electronic
mail system generally received electronic mail messages only from known
senders. For example, an employee of a company would receive electronic
mail messages only from other employees of the company. The electronic
mail system may only be connected to computer systems owned by the
company. However, with the increasing popularity of the Internet, a user
may be able to send electronic mail messages to anyone who is connected
to the Internet. The sender of an electronic mail message needs only to
know the electronic mail address of the recipient. Thus, users can and
often do receive electronic mail messages from unknown senders.

[0008] Recently, a problem has developed which seriously impairs the
effectiveness of electronic mail systems. Many large promotional
companies are turning to the Internet to advertise products of their
clients. These promotional companies acquire and maintain lists of
electronic mail addresses for thousands of users. When a client wants to
advertise a product, the promotional company will send an electronic mail
message to each electronic mail address in its list. A user may
occasionally receive an unsolicited electronic mail message from such a
promotional company. Such occasional receipt of such electronic mail
message, while annoying, does not seriously impair the effectiveness of
the electronic mail system. However, because of the perceived benefits of
advertising via the Internet, a user may now receive so many unsolicited
electronic mail messages on a daily basis, that the unsolicited
electronic mail messages vastly outnumber the electronic mails messages
received from known senders. The process of sending these promotional
electronic mail messages indiscriminately to the various electronic mail
addresses by the promotional companies is referred to as "spamming."
Because a recipient may receive so many unsolicited (i.e., junk)
electronic mail messages, it may be very difficult for the recipient to
sort through and determine which electronic mail messages are not junk.
Such sorting has been a serious impediment to the effectiveness of the
electronic mail systems. The seriousness of the problem has been
recognized and legislation has even been proposed that would outlaw such
spamming practices. In addition, several litigations have been spawned to
force such promotional companies to cease their spamming practices.

[0009] One potential solution to the problems resulting from the spamming
practices has been tried, but unfortunately has been unsuccessful. A
service, known as a "de-spamming service," has been provided that
attempts to limit the junk mail that is sent. Such a de-spamming service
maintains a list of the electronic mail addresses of users who have
requested not to receive junk mail. When a promotional company wishes to
send an electronic mail message to all the users whose electronic mail
addresses are on its mailing list, the promotional company first sends
the electronic mail messages to the de-spamming computer system. The
de-spamming computer system checks its list of electronic mail addresses
and deletes any of the electronic mail messages that are destined to any
electronic mail addresses on its list. The de-spamming computer system
then forwards the remaining electronic mail messages onto the recipients.
Whenever a recipient does not want to be included on a mailing list, the
recipient can notify the de-spamming computer system, which will add the
recipient's electronic mail address to the list of electronic mail
addresses that are not to receive junk mail. Recently, however, such
de-spamming services have ceased offering the service because it has
proved to be uneconomical.

[0010] Certain electronic mail systems also allow a user to designate how
to automatically handle a received electronic mail message. For example,
a user can indicate that all electronic mail messages received from a
certain sender can automatically be stored in a designated folder, be
deleted, or be forwarded to another recipient. To provide such routing of
electronic mail messages, the user needs to specify a characteristic
(e.g., sender=John Smith) of the envelope portion or the body portion so
that the electronic mail system can determine which electronic mail
systems satisfy the characteristic. However, with such electronic mail
systems, a user cannot specify how to automatically handle electronic
mail messages if they are unaware of any characteristic of the electronic
mail message. In particular, a user may not know in advance the identity
of the sender of junk mail and thus cannot have the junk mail
automatically deleted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system for
practicing the present invention.

[0012]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an
implementation of the authorizing for the authorization component.

[0013] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an
implementation of the automatic updating of the authorized senders list.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] The present invention provides a method and system for filtering
electronic mail messages that are received from unauthorized senders. In
one embodiment of the present invention, an authorization component is
included with an electronic mail system. The authorization component
intercepts electronic mail messages that are sent to a user before they
are placed in the user's Inbox folder. The authorization component has
the identifications of all senders who are authorized to send electronic
mail messages to the user. When an electronic mail message is
intercepted, the authorization component retrieves the identification of
the sender from the envelope portion of the intercepted electronic mail
message. The authorization component then determines whether the
retrieved identification of the sender matches the identification of one
of the authorized senders. If the retrieve identification does not match,
then the authorization component stores the intercepted electronic mail
message in a pre-designated location, such as a "Junk Mail" folder.
Otherwise, the authorization component forwards the intercepted
electronic mail message to the electronic mail system for normal
processing and storage. With the use of such an authorization component a
user can effectively filter out unauthorized (i.e., junk) electronic mail
messages. Periodically, the user can view the Junk Mail folder to delete
or read the electronic mail messages that were designated as junk.

[0015] The authorization component can store the identifications of the
authorized senders in a list that is either manually or automatically
updated. A user can manually update the authorized sender list in several
circumstances. For example, when an electronic mail message is stored in
the Junk Mail folder but the user does not consider the electronic mail
message to be junk, the user can add the identification of the sender to
the authorized sender list. Conversely, when an electronic mail message
is not stored in the Junk Mail folder but the user considers the
electronic mail message to be junk, the user can remove the
identification of the sender from the authorized sender list. The
authorization component can also automatically update the authorized
sender list in several circumstances. For example, the authorization
component can scan previously sent electronic mail messages and add the
identifications of the recipients to the authorized sender list. The
authorization component can also scan previously received electronic
messages (e.g., in a certain folder) and add the identifications of the
senders to the authorized sender list. In addition, the authorization
component can automatically add the identification of each recipient to
the authorized sender list whenever the user sends an electronic mail
message. The authorization component can also allow the user to disable
the filtering of electronic mail messages. It may be desirable to disable
such filtering, for example, when the authorized sender list has not yet
been updated to contain the identification of most of the authorized
senders.

[0016] The authorization component can be used by an administrator of an
electronic mail system of a company to ensure that the employees do not
receive unauthorized electronic mail messages. For example, the
administrator could maintain a global authorized sender list that is
shared by all employees. The authorized sender list could contain only
the names of the employees of the company. If the authorization component
automatically deleted the electronic mail messages from senders not in
the authorized sender list, then the employees would only receive
electronic mail messages sent by other employees. Alternatively, the
global authorized sender list can serve to relieve each individual
employee of maintaining an authorized sender list with the names of all
employees. Each employee could also maintain a personal authorized sender
list that identifies additional senders (e.g., spouse) who are authorized
to send electronic mail messages to the employee. The authorization
component would only consider an electronic mail message to be junk when
the identification of the sender is not in either the global or the
personal authorized sender list. A user may be allowed to specify and
de-specify many different authorized sender lists at various times. For
example, a user may have an authorized sender list for business
acquaintances and another authorized sender list for social
acquaintances.

[0017] The authorization component can handle the electronic mail message
from unauthorized senders in different ways other than automatically
storing in a Junk Mail folder or deleting. For example, electronic mail
messages received from a sender who is not an employee of a company can
automatically be routed to the electronic mail system administrator.
Also, all electronic mail messages from unauthorized senders can be
automatically forwarded to an assistant of the user who can determine
whether the electronic mail message is really junk. If the electronic
mail message is not junk, then the assistant can re-send the electronic
mail message to the user and update the authorized sender list for the
user accordingly. Also, the authorization component can simply store an
indication that indicates whether or not an electronic mail message is
from an authorized sender. When the electronic mail system displays
electronic mail messages, it can display a visual indicator as to whether
each electronic mail message is junk based on the stored indication. For
example, the visual indication could be the displaying of information
relating to the junk electronic mail messages in a dimmer intensity than
the non-junk electronic mail messages.

[0018] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a computer system for
practicing the present invention. The computer system 100 includes memory
101, central processing unit 102, I/O interface 103, display device 104,
and electronic mail connection 109. The memory contains the electronic
mail system 105 which includes the authorization component 106 of the
present invention. The electronic mail system passes each electronic mail
message it receives to the authorization component. The authorization
component uses the authorized sender list 108 to determine whether the
sender of the electronic mail message is authorized to send the received
electronic mail message. If the sender is not authorized, the
authorization component stores the received electronic mail message in a
designated Junk Mail folder in the electronic mail file 107. The
authorization component can operate as an add-on component to any system
(e.g., Internet browsers) that supports the receiving of electronic mail
messages.

[0019]FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an
implementation of the authorizing for the authorization component. This
routine receives the authorized sender list and the electronic mail
messages. The routine determines whether the identification of the sender
of each electronic mail message is in the authorized sender list. If the
sender is authorized, then the routine stores the electronic mail message
in a designated folder for authorized senders. If the sender is not
authorized, then the routine stores the electronic mail message in a Junk
Mail folder. In step 201, the routine selects the next electronic mail
message starting with the first. In step 202, if all the electronic mail
messages have already been selected, then the routine is complete, else
the routine continues at step 203. In step 203, the routine retrieves the
identification of the sender of the selected electronic mail message. In
step 204, if the retrieved identification is in the authorized sender
list, then the routine continues at step 205, else the routine continues
at step 206. In step 205, the routine stores the selected electronic mail
message in the inbox folder and loops to step 201 to select the next
electronic mail message. In step 206, the routine stores the selected
electronic mail message in the Junk Mail folder and loops to step 201 to
select the next electronic mail message.

[0020] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a routine that provides an
implementation of the automatic updating of the authorized sender list.
This flow diagram shows the portion of the authorization component that
adds the recipients of a sent electronic mail message to the authorized
sender list for the sender of the electronic mail message. The ellipsis
shown in the figure indicates conventional processing to send an
electronic mail message. In step 301, the routine retrieves the
identification of the next recipient of the electronic mail message to be
sent starting with the first. In step 302, if the identifications of all
the recipients of the electronic mail message to be sent have already
been selected, then the routine continues with the sending of the
electronic mail message, else the routine continues at step 303. At step
303, if the retrieved identification is already in the authorized sender
list, then the routine loops to step 301 to retrieve the identification
of the next recipient, else the routine continues at step 304. In step
304, the routine adds the retrieved identification to the authorized
sender list and loops to step 301 to select the next recipient.

[0021] From the foregoing it will be appreciated that, although specific
embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of
illustration, various modifications may be made without deviating from
the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not
limited except as by the appended claims.